rejoice

Verb

rejoice (third-person singular simple present rejoices, present participle rejoicing, simple past and past participle rejoiced)

1. (intransitive) To be very happy, be delighted, exult; to feel joy.
   • Obscurity, indeed, is painful to the mind as well as to the eye ; but to bring light from obscurity, by whatever labour, must needs to be delightful and rejoicing.1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press, published 1973, §6
   • At Waterhouses and Hulme End the usual booking office, waiting room and other station accommodation were to be found, but the remaining stations […] were mere stopping places, some of which rejoiced in a small shed for waiting passengers, others without any kind of shelter whatsoever.1945 September and October, H. C. Casserley, “The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265

   Synonyms:

   blithen, delight, rapture

2. (obsolete, transitive) To have (someone) as a lover or spouse; to enjoy sexually.
   • ye that are a knyghte wyueles that ye wyl not loue some mayden or gentylwoman /[…]/ but hit is noysed that ye loue quene Gueneuer / and that she hath ordeyned by enchauntement that ye shal neuer loue none other / but her / ne none other damoysel ne lady shall reioyse you1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book VI
3. (transitive) To make happy, exhilarate.
   • Were he [Cain] alive, it would rejoice his soul to see what mischief it had made.1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations
   • But good news awaited them in the form of permission to travel about the area replenishing medical stocks in hospitals and clinics, and this task was delegated to Constance, as the newcomer, a fact which rejoiced her.1982, Lawrence Durrell, “Constance”, in Avignon Quintet, Faber & Faber, published 2004, pages 790–1

   Synonyms:

   elate, happify, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer, fetch, cheer up

4. (obsolete) To enjoy.
   • his brother Constans next aftir him rejoiced the same west-parti.c. 1449–1455, Reginald Peacock, Represser of over-much weeting [blaming] of the Clergie